Calendar of Events

Saturday, February 8, 2014

McClung Museum: Art of the Winter Olympics

7920.jpg

Category: Exhibitions, visual art and Free event

In honor of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, the McClung Museum will feature several Olympic-themed bronzes of speed skaters and figure skaters from the Museum's collections.

Art of the Winter Olympics features several pieces by the artist Robert Tait McKenzie—a physician and director of physical education who combined his love of sports and art in a career as a sculptor.

The display, which goes up on February 7, the first day of Winter Olympics competition, will be on view through February 24.

Over the next few months, the McClung will host lectures, family days, and stroller tours related exhibits. As always, admission to both the museum and these programs is free.

More details, as well as information on museum hours and free parking, can be found on the McClung Museum's website, http://mcclungmuseum.utk.edu

Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center: Winter Heritage Festival

7859.jpg

Category: Festivals, special events, Free event, Kids, family, Lecture, panel and Music

Free to attend! Come celebrate the culture, heritage and beauty of this unique area with the GSM Heritage Center. Presentations:
FRIDAY February 7:
10 am “Children Then and Now: by Gene Lequire"
11 am Earl Lequire – Singer, Songwriter
12 Noon “Walking in the Footsteps of Tennessee History with Gov. John Sevier” by Lynn Fox
2PM “Divided Loyalties in East Tennessee during the Civil War” by Dr. Aaron Astor
3 pm “The Hunting Tradition in the Great Smoky Mountains” by Randall Pierce
4 pm “Wildlife in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park” presentation and book signing by Kim Delozier

SATURDAY February 8
10 am “The Meaning of Respect” by Betty Bates
11 am “Sparks Lane Then and Now” by Kate Marshall
1 pm “Military Veterans in Cades Cove and East Tennessee” by Dorothy Sutton
2 pm “The Myers Family of Cades Cove and Uncle Sherman Myers” by Bernard Myers
3 pm Panel discussion by former Cades Cove residents

Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center, 3/4 mile east of traffic light at the Highway 321 and 73 intersection towards the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Townsend, TN. Hours: Monday-Saturday, 10AM-5PM. Information: 865-448-0044, www.gsmheritagecenter.org

Primary Players: Willy Wonka Jr. by Roald Dahl

Category: Kids, family, Music and Theatre

Roald Dahl's WILLY WONKA JR., follows enigmatic candy manufacturer Willy Wonka as he stages a contest by hiding five golden tickets in five of his scrumptious candy bars. Whoever comes up with these tickets will win a free tour of the Wonka factory, as well as a lifetime supply of candy. Four of the five winning children are insufferable brats: the fifth is a likeable young lad named Charlie Bucket who takes the tour in the company of his equally amiable grandfather. The children must learn to follow Mr. Wonka's rules in the factory--or suffer the consequences.

Feb 7 at 7pm; Feb 8 at 3pm and 7 pm.
Tickets are $10 for Adults, $8 for Seniors, and $5 for Children (12 years and younger)

Clayton Center for the Arts: 502 East Lamar Alexander Parkway, Maryville, TN 37804. Info: 865-981-8590, www.ClaytonArtsCenter.com

Pellissippi State campuses host free Black History Month events

7861.jpg
  • February 5, 2014 — February 27, 2014

Category: Dance, movement, Exhibitions, visual art, Festivals, special events, Free event, History, heritage, Kids, family, Lecture, panel and Music

Pellissippi State Community College is celebrating Black History Month with numerous events at its five campuses throughout February. Activities are free and the community is invited.

The Magnolia Avenue Campus starts the month-long activities with “Healthy Pelli: Campus Health Fair,” Wednesday, Feb. 5. Each Friday in February, the site hosts an African Jazz Cafe in the Lobby.

The Division Street Campus offers two films in February: Disney’s “Ruby Bridges” on the 11th and “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom” on the 20th. Both are at 12:15 p.m. in the Student Lounge.

The Magnolia Avenue Campus hosts a “History of African-American Music: Freedom Songs, Blues and Jazz” 9-11 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 12, in the Community Room. The presentation features local jazz artist Kelle Jolly.

The Blount County Campus presents the documentary “The Underground Railroad” Tuesday, Feb. 18, in the Educational Resources Center.

At the Hardin Valley Campus, Feb. 21 brings “A Celebration of African-American Art, Music and Literature.” The event is in the Goins Building College Center, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. It features an art display, performance by the Vine Middle School African Dancers and Drummers, poetry reading by Oak Ridge poet Rose Weaver, and “Taste of Soul Food.”

Also at the Hardin Valley site, Feb. 27 the community is invited to a Faculty Lecture Series presentation: “John Brown: Maniacal Egotist or Moral Crusader?” by Joy Ingram, an associate professor. The talk is at 2 p.m. in the Goins Building Auditorium.

Throughout the month, African-American history exhibits will be on display in the Community Room of the Magnolia Avenue Campus, the Lobby of the Strawberry Plains Campus, the Student Lounge of the Division Street Campus, and the Educational Resources centers of the Blount County and Hardin Valley campuses.

The theme of the display at the Magnolia Avenue Campus is “All About That Jazz”; Division Street, “Embrace African-American Heritage Board of Fame”; and Strawberry Plains, “African-Americans of Influence.”

Other ongoing events include African tea and coffee tastings:
· Hardin Valley, Goins Building Rotunda, 8:30-10 a.m. Wednesdays
· Division Street, Student Lounge, 9-10:30 a.m. Wednesdays
· Strawberry Plains, Lobby, 9-10:30 a.m. Mondays

For more information about Pellissippi State, visit www.pstcc.edu or call (865) 694-6400. To request accommodations for a disability, contact the executive director of Human Resources at (865) 694-6607 or humanresources@pstcc.edu.

Ijams Nature Center: Peg's Kitchen -

  • February 3, 2014 — March 29, 2014
  • 9:30am - 11:00am

Category: Festivals, special events and Science, nature

PEG'S KITCHEN: Breakfast is Served
If you are heading to Ijams this Saturday morning for a program, hike or simple walkabout, bring your appetite. Our very own green thumb/favorite cook Peg Beute will be serving breakfast. Tomorrow's menu features french toast casserole and sausage, plus fresh fruit, coffee or tea. All proceeds from Peg's Kitchen go to the Ijams education department. Come hungry! The fee for breakfast is $5 per person. No pre-registration is required.

Ijams Nature Center, 2915 Island Home Ave, Knoxville, TN 37920. Hours: Grounds and trails open during daylight hours. Call for Visitor Center hours. Information: 865-577-4717, www.ijams.org

The WordPlayers & Carpetbag Theatre: A Woman Called Truth by Sandra Fenichel Asher

7782.jpg

Category: Free event, History, heritage, Kids, family and Theatre

The WordPlayers, in collaboration with The Carpetbag Theatre, will tour: A Woman Called Truth by Sandra Fenichel Asher – A one-act play with music celebrating the life and achievements of Sojourner Truth. Directed by Linda Parris-Bailey with musical direction by Kelly Jolly. The play begins at the 1851 women’s rights convention in Akron, Ohio. We then go back in time to 1797 and travel with Sojourner as she remembers some of the extraordinary experiences that shaped her life. We get a glimpse of her highly cruel and unjust treatment as a slave. We experience how she bravely took her freedom and how she fought to free her son. At the end of the play, we learn how she became “Sojourner Truth” and get a taste of her dynamic spirit as an orator as she delivers her famous “Ain’t I a Woman” speech.

A Woman Called Truth is an important story about a significant woman in our country’s history. You are invited to these free, public performances!

Feb. 2, Fourth United Presbyterian, 1323 N. Broadway, 5:00 pm
Feb. 3, Moses Teen Center, 220 Carrick St., 7:00 pm
Feb. 8, ReCreate Café, Salvation Army, Chattanooga, 1:00 pm
Feb. 11, Walters State – Sevierville, 6:00 pm
Feb. 24, Walters State – Greeneville, 11:30 am
Feb. 24, Walters State – Claiborne, 6:00 pm
Feb. 25, Roane State – Harriman, 12:30 & 6:00 pm
Feb. 28, Walters State – Morristown, 2:00 pm

Info: 865-539-2490, wordplayers@comcast.net, http://wordplayers.org/current-season/touring-shows/woman-called-truth-spring-2014

Rose Center: Blurred Lines exhibition

  • February 2, 2014 — February 28, 2014

Category: Exhibitions, visual art and Free event

Work by 12 African-American artists
curated by Sammie Nicely

In the Edith Davis Gallery

Rose Center, 442 W Second N Street, Morristown, TN 37814
Info: info@rosecenter.org, 423-581-4330, www.rosecenter.org, www.facebook/rosecenter

Ijams Nature Center: February events

7844.jpg
  • February 1, 2014 — February 28, 2014

Category: Classes, workshops, Kids, family and Science, nature

February 1, 12:00 PM - IJAMS BIRDING SERIES: Sandhill Cranes at Hiwassee
(Ages 12 and up) Weather permitting, join Ijams Senior Naturalist Stephen Lyn Bales for a road trip to Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge to see sandhill cranes wintering at the Meigs County location. Golden and bald eagles, winter ducks, and whooping cranes are also possible. Meet at the Ijams Visitor Center. The fee for this program is $12 for members and $15 for non-members. Ijams will provide box lunches and hot cocoa. Please call (865) 577-4717, ext. 110 to register.

2:00 pm - IJAMS FAMILY WILDLIFE SERIES: Groundhog Day
Unlike the popular movie, you won't be forced to relive this day over and over, but you may want to! Come join us for a fun and informative talk about one of our favorite underground dwellers. Will he see his shadow? Free to members, $5 for non-members. Please call (865) 577-4717, ext. 110 to register.

Terrarium Workshop February 8
Full Moon Happy Hour Hike February 15
New Naturalist Workshop February 21
Build a Bluebird House February 22

Ijams Nature Center, 2915 Island Home Ave, Knoxville, TN 37920. Hours: Grounds and trails open during daylight hours. Call for Visitor Center hours. Information: 865-577-4717, www.ijams.org

Knoxville Museum of Art: Sight and Feeling: Photographs by Ansel Adams

6020.jpg

Category: Exhibitions, visual art and Free event

The Knoxville Museum of Art presents Sight and Feeling: Photographs by Ansel Adams January 31-May 4, 2014. This exhibition of 23 prints by Ansel Adams emphasizes the role of the artist’s intuitive and emotional response to the landscape in the creation of his powerful and enduring images. Also included in the KMA’s special presentation of this exhibition are three rare prints Adams made during his little-known visit to East Tennessee’s Smoky Mountains in 1948. Adams is widely considered to be America’s greatest landscape photographer. His ability to create black and white photographs with a remarkable range and subtlety of tones is legendary. Yet for all Adams’ technical mastery, he recognized that what made a compelling photograph was far more elusive.

Few are aware that in 1948 Adams traveled to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park—his first and only recorded visit to Tennessee—in order take photographs as part of a Guggenheim Fellowship on America’s national parks and monuments. The resulting images represent an extensive and important artistic record of the Smokies approximately 14 years after the park was established.

There will be an opening reception Thursday, January 30 at the KMA, which includes a members-only preview from 5 to 6pm, and a public opening from 6 to 8pm.

Knoxville Museum of Art, 1050 World's Fair Park Dr, Knoxville, TN 37916. Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 10AM-5PM; Sunday, 1-5PM. Information: 865-525-6101, www.knoxart.org

Knoxville Museum of Art: Contemporary Focus 2014

6020.jpg

Category: Exhibitions, visual art and Free event

The Knoxville Museum of Art presents Contemporary Focus January 31-April 6. This annual exhibition series is designed to serve as a vital means of recognizing, supporting, and documenting the development of contemporary art in East Tennessee. Each year, the exhibition series features the work of artists who are living and making art in this region, and who are exploring issues relevant to the larger world of contemporary art. The three artists selected for this year’s exhibition have a common interest in creating layered works dealing with memory, identity and the surrounding environment—whether suburban, rural, synthetic, or natural. Jean Hess produces dense, intricate collages made up of fragments culled from eclectic sources such as topographical charts, children’s writings, and the natural landscape. In addition to her studio practice, Hess is active as a freelance art writer and curator. Althea Murphy-Price is a printmaker and installation artist who uses hair—both human and artificial—rather than a drawn line as the basis for her elaborately textured compositions. Murphy-Price is an assistant professor of printmaking at the School of Art, University of Tennessee. Jessica Wohl is a mixed media artist based in Sewanee whose sprawling installations, obsessively detailed ink drawings, and sewn portraits are largely inspired by contemporary suburban life. She currently lives in Sewanee, Tennessee where she is an Assistant Professor of Art at The University of the South.

There will be an opening reception Thursday, January 30 at the KMA, which includes a members-only preview from 5 to 6pm, and a public opening from 6 to 8pm.

Knoxville Museum of Art, 1050 World's Fair Park Dr, Knoxville, TN 37916. Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 10AM-5PM; Sunday, 1-5PM. Information: 865-525-6101, www.knoxart.org

Clarence Brown Theatre: The Whipping Man

6168.jpg

Category: Theatre

By Matthew Lopes; Directed by John Sipes

Everyone has scars in this stirring period drama. In April 1865, a wounded Jewish Confederate soldier returns to his home in Richmond only to find it ruined and abandoned--except for two former slaves also raised in the Jewish faith. As the three men celebrate Passover, they uncover a tangle of secrets and grapple with an uncertain future brought on by the end of the Civil War.

This production contains strong language and content and is recommended for high school and up.

Clarence Brown Theatre / Carousel Theatre, 1714 Andy Holt Ave on the UT campus, Knoxville, TN 37996. For information: 865-974-5161, www.clarencebrowntheatre.com. For tickets: 865-974-5161, 865-656-4444, www.knoxvilletickets.com

Oak Ridge Playhouse: The Man Who Came To Dinner - Mainstage Comedy

  • January 30, 2014 — February 8, 2014

Category: Theatre

In Kaufman and Hart’s 1940s comedy, famed author and personality Sheridan Whiteside, invited to dinner during a speaking tour, slips on the doorstep, breaking his hip. A tumultuous six weeks of confinement follows as the irascible and disagreeable invalid takes over the host family’s home and destroys their domestic tranquility with the arrival of strange and exotic get-well gifts, a parade of celebrity friends, and a devious plot to undermine his secretary’s budding romance.

Oak Ridge Playhouse, 227 Broadway, Oak Ridge, TN 37830. Information and tickets: 865-482-9999, www.orplayhouse.com

2 of 4